Changing Profile of Abused Substances by Older Persons Entering Treatment

Abstract

This study evaluated whether there were increasing admissions for illicit drug abuse treatment among older persons from 1992 to 2005 in the United States and describes the characteristics, number, and type of substances most commonly abused in this population over this 14-year period. Analyses used public data files from the Treatment Episode Data Set, which tracks federally and state funded substance abuse treatment admissions. From 1992 to 2005, admissions for illicit drug abuse increased significantly; in 2005, 61% of admissions age 50 to 54 years old and 45% of admissions age 55 years and older reported some type of illicit drug abuse, most commonly heroin or cocaine abuse. Criminal justice referrals for drug abuse admissions have increased over time and daily substance use remains high. Efforts to determine best practices for prevention, identification, and treatment of illicit drug abuse in older persons are indicated.

Uso de substâncias psicoativas em idosos: uma revisão integrativa

“…In a study that compared samples collected with a 10-year interval, the men remained at a higher number in both samples (Sacco et al, 2013). Another study confirmed that admissions for drug or alcohol abuse, or a combination of the two; were predominantly men, although it should be noted that this percentage decreased between 1992 and 2005 for all drugs (Lofwall et al, 2008).…”

“…The Table 1 presents a synthesis of the information contained in the articles compiled in this review, whereby eight come from studies carried out in the United States (USA), two from the United Kingdom and one each from Brazil, Spain, and Australia. Of these, seven refer to data extracted from epidemiological studies, carried out to monitor the population (Armstrong, 2007;Blazer & Wu, 2009;Fahmy et al, 2012;Han et al, 2009;Horyniak et al, 2013;Lofwall et al, 2008;Sacco et al, 2013), based on large samples -between 3417 and 452,567 individuals. Four studies reported on data obtained through the application of questionnaires, evaluations or analysis of clinical histories of users of treatment services for problems related to drug use (Beynon et al, 2009;Lofwall et al, 2005;Pillon et al, 2010;Roibás et al, 2010).…”

“…On the other hand, the acceleration of medical morbidities and the progression in organic deterioration of these individuals means that this population has unique treatment necessities (Lofwall et al, 2008;Roibás et al, 2010). It is known that advancing age alters the functioning and composition of the human body, which makes it crucial to adjust the type of medicine and its dosage.…”

“…Thus, these consumers remain under treatment for many years, or even decades, continually or with interruptions, reaching old age during treatment (EMCDDA, 2010). Finally, it is expected a greater involvement of the judicial system in the increase of treatments for drug abuse at these ages (Lofwall et al, 2008), as there would be many more referrals to health services and treatment services issued by courts. Gossop & Moos (2008) reported that older consumers of substances can be classified into two categories: "survivors", these being people that began in their youth and have a long history of consumption, and "reactives", who are those that began using drugs late on, probably due to problems experienced in the course of life.…”

“…Defining "older drug users" among consumers of psychoactive substances is a challenging task (Lofwall et al, 2008) as there is no exact definition and there are variations in understanding of the terms "older" or "elderly" even in the general population (EMCDDA, 2010). The retirement age in Europe generally begins at 60, but for administrative and legislative purposes it is more common to consider the age of 65 (EMCDDA, 2010), this being the cut off age used in Portugal to define elderly (INE, 2013).…”